Business

The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union (EU), has said countries across the continent should be encouraged to deploy energy storage. The group has said storage will support the integration of renewable energy resources to the grid, and increase power system flexibility. The use of energy storage also is key to Europe’s […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded contracts with a total potential value of $8 million to four nuclear fuel companies to further U.S. enrichment capabilities for high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU), a critical piece of the next-generation nuclear supply chain. The selected companies include Centrus Energy’s American Centrifuge Operating, URENCO’s Louisiana Energy Services, Orano […]

With the 2024 U.S. presidential election rapidly approaching, energy mergers and acquisitions (M&A) professionals are considering how a new presidency could impact the transaction planning, structuring and execution of deals, including how the candidates are likely to approach regulation, especially around M&A. Both candidates are prioritizing different energy subsectors as part of their economic vision […]

A $900 million funding opportunity released by the Department of Energy (DOE) on Oct. 16 seeks to spur “first mover” teams that could deploy the first two Gen III+ light water small modular reactors (SMRs) in the U.S. It will also provide funding for “fast follower” deployment support by addressing critical gaps that have long […]

The power generation sector is looking at numerous ways to provide enough electricity to satisfy demand from data centers. Bloomberg Intelligence recently said its research shows data centers, buildings filled with servers and other computing equipment for data storage and networking that supports operations and artificial intelligence (AI), could be responsible for as much as […]

Japan’s Sumitomo Corp and Perennial Power Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of Sumitomo Corp. of Americas, have set up a joint venture with Virginia-based CEP Solar LLC to deliver renewable energy projects across Virginia. The companies said the JV will provide support for the state’s energy supply, in part to help with power demand from Virginia’s […]

In yet another major set of deals spearheaded by a tech giant in support of nuclear power development, Amazon will back the deployment of 5 GW of new X-energy small modular reactor (SMR) projects by 2039, starting with an initial four-unit 320-MWe Xe-100 plant with regional utility Energy Northwest in central Washington. Separately, Amazon signed […]

Dennis Wamsted and Seth Feaster at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis recently wrote a commentary looking at Energy Capital Partners’ (ECP) deal to take over ownership of the General James M. Gavin coal-fired power plant in Ohio. The 2,709-MW Gavin plant is ranked as the fifth-largest carbon dioxide-emitting power plant in the […]

Micro-modular nuclear plant developer Last Energy has unveiled plans to deploy four 20-MWe pressurized water reactor (PWR) power plants at the site of a former coal-fired power plant in South Wales. Last Energy’s project will transform the Llynfi Power Station, a now vacant site that housed four 30-MW coal units from 1951 to 1977,  the […]

In a deal that marks the first corporate agreement to deploy multiple small modular reactors (SMRs) in the U.S., Kairos Power and Google have signed a Master Plant Development Agreement to facilitate the development of a 500-MW fleet of molten salt nuclear reactors by 2035 to power Google’s data centers. The first reactor is expected […]

The European Industrial Alliance on Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) has identified nine SMR projects it will support as its first batch of project working groups (PWGs). The effort marks a significant first step toward the alliance’s goal of deploying SMR technologies across Europe by the early 2030s. The alliance, a collaborative public-private platform launched by the […]

President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law in 2022. The IRA is the largest public investments in renewable energy in American history and created more than 20 different tax incentives for renewable energy and related manufacturing. Certain Republic politicians have directed vitriol at the IRA. However, even if Republicans win the White […]

The U.S. electric grid is under more strain than ever to support exponential electricity demand due to artificial intelligence (AI), data centers, electric vehicles, and hotter temperatures. Its infrastructure is made up of 180 million power poles spread out over 5.5 million miles that are frequently bombarded with increasingly severe storms and weather. Worsening SAIDI […]

UPDATED (Oct. 11): The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has upgraded its G4-level “severe” geomagnetic storm watch to a G3-level “strong” geomagnetic storm warning after an anticipated coronal mass ejection (CME) arrived at Earth at 11:15 a.m. EST on Thursday, traveling at nearly 1.5 million miles per hour. The G3-level warning is now in […]

In a significant breakthrough for the development of supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power cycles, the 10-MWe Supercritical Transformational Electric Power (STEP) Demo pilot plant in San Antonio, Texas, has wrapped up Phase 1 testing, demonstrating the commercial readiness of its next-generation indirect sCO2 Brayton cycle. The $169 million project—the largest of its kind in the […]

The U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) announced six companies have successfully bid to provide deconversion services for high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel to support advanced nuclear reactors. The DOE on October 8 announced the complete list of successful bidders. They include Nuclear Fuel Services, part of BWX Technologies (BWXT); American Centrifuge Operating, part of Centrus […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded capacity contracts of up to $1.5 billion to four major transmission lines under its Transmission Facilitation Program (TFP) to aid the transfer of 7.1 GW of new capacity throughout Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The DOE’s Grid Deployment Office (GDO) on Oct. 3 also released its […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) unveiled plans on Sept. 27 to inject $1.3 billion into its portfolio of federally funded carbon capture demonstration and large-scale pilot programs by the end of the year—including up to $400 million to support one commercial-scale coal power plant carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration. The Office of Clean Energy […]

Project Tundra, a demonstration project that seeks to capture an average of 4 million tons of carbon dioxide from flue gas from two lignite-fired units at the 705-MW Milton R. Young Station near Center, North Dakota, has secured a $4.1 million federal award from the Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED). Under […]

The Jackson Generation plant, a 1.2-GW combined cycle power plant in Elwood, Illinois, debuted North America’s first M501JAC gas turbines. Developed by J-POWER USA, the facility has emerged as a model for

Oil shale doesn’t fuel a lot of power plants around the world, but in Jordan, it’s a vital option, offering energy security and independence. The success of the Attarat Power Plant in capitalizing on this

While natural gas power accounted for 43% of total U.S. power generation in 2023, several state and federal policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions are bolstering interest in hydrogen cofiring. These policies include the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently finalized Carbon Pollution Standards, federal production tax credits, and the federal hydrogen hub program. However, only […]

Earlier this year, POWER partnered with Best Companies Group (BCG), an organization dedicated to identifying and recognizing outstanding workplaces across various industries, to launch our Best Places to Work

Italian firm Magaldi Group, a specialist in ultra-high-temperature material handling, is poised to deploy its first large-scale application of a novel thermal energy storage system that uses a fluidized bed of

Historically, generator inspections require rotor removal (Figure 3). There’s a significant level of risk during this process due to possible generator damage during the disassembly, and it also requires

The Australian state of Queensland is in the midst of a rapid changeover from coal to renewables. From 70% coal generation today, it is switching to 70% renewables by 2032. This means phasing out 8.1 GW of coal and some of its 3 GW of gas generation, while simultaneously building at least 25 GW of […]

Power plant managers know that optimizing cooling water operations will improve efficiency. Using an integrated approach that combines advanced chemistry, digital technologies, such as deposit sensing, and

U.S. energy needs have changed dramatically over the last few decades, and questions are growing as to whether our grid can manage these new demands. Aside from rising temperatures—the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared 2023 the hottest year on record—the energy sector is managing a trio of additional challenges: City populations are growing, creating […]

Europe is pursuing an ambitious energy transition to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050. To reach this goal, the region has set stringent targets to decrease reliance on Russian fossil fuels and increase the adoption of renewable energy across the power and transportation sectors. Significant strides are being made in developing solar and […]

The field servicing of boilers is challenging. Often there are tough deadlines to meet, limited outage windows, severe space constraints, and many other difficulties to overcome. Here are some key best practices Rentech has gleaned from servicing hundreds of boilers (Figure 1) over the years. Know-How from the Start Projects usually arrive via a call […]